Kindred Spirits
by Kure1
Summary: Following her father's death Ino became a completely different person. Despite her act, Shikamaru realises that she's gone off the deep end, but rather than trying to reverse the irreversible, he willingly allows himself to be manipulated. Even if that means being complicit in her desire for vengeance on fellow Konoha shinobi.


Needless to say, this is an AU. Enjoy.

* * *

Absentmindedly playing with her hair, Ino tuned out the long-winded babbling from Iruka, he was going on some spiel about the importance of the will of fire. What garbage.

Allowing her thoughts to drift, Ino privately lamented on the fact that this was a topic in which she used to have genuine faith in. Damn, they indoctrinated her nicely. If not for her father's death she may have turned into the perfect little soldier.

"Loyalty to the village above all." "Duty and loyalty will be rewarded and respected." Pfft, yeah right. If that were the case her father would still be alive, he was as loyal and dutiful as they came; one of the few clan heads that could honestly say that they would put the needs of the village before their clan.

As much as the academy instructors rambled on about the loyalty and duty, Ino knew it was a crock of shit. Politics were a real thing, especially in a village as large and influential as Konoha.

Her father's death came from accepting a dangerous mission that the Hokage deemed important for the village. It was a mission to retrieve an influential diplomat in Iwa that was willing to defect to Konoha, selling his secrets and knowledge on the inner workings of Iwa in exchange for protection and wealth. Given the precarious situation with Iwa at the time, the Hokage understandably wanted every advantage he could get.

So far so good, an important mission that's assigned to a competent Shinobi. On the surface at least. But her father specialises in intelligence gathering and interrogation, it doesn't take a genius to deduce that a mission to infiltrate hostile territory to retrieve an important asset doesn't fit within his skillset.

Obviously the Hokage was aware of this, which is why Ino shouldn't have been surprised when she found out that her father wasn't his first choice - far from it. Apparently, the mission was time sensitive and the Hokage only wanted a trusted and highly capable shinobi to deal with it. Now, for most people when the Hokage gives you a mission, your response is along the lines of a prompt "Yes sir!", but for those who are a significant member of an influential clan or someone who has amassed significant political influence, such as Danzo, then things become a bit murkier. They wouldn't downright refuse barring extreme circumstances, but if they expressed hesitance or questioned the wisdom of sending them on the mission, then at some point you could probably expect to hear back from them or their allies.

Telling a clan head that you're sending one of their most promising clan members on a solo mission to hostile territory that they don't want to go on is guaranteed to meet some form of resistance. Clans tended to be very defensive and self-victimising, ordering their members to abruptly go on a solo mission was a sure-fire way to have them feel victimised and pissed off.

Of course, ultimately the Hokage can downright order to you to do it - but a mission that's important, but not vitality so, is hardly worth making major enemies over. After all, choosing your battles is key to a long-lasting reign as a Kage, regardless of what village you belong to.

Ino knew that the Hokage had genuine faith that her father would be successful, he was far too useful to send on a suicide mission. Ino suspected that this fact, combined with Inoichi accepting the mission without complaint, is why the Nara and Akimichi didn't raise any fuss upon learning of his death. However, whilst they, along with most of the Yamanaka clan accepted it, Ino and her mother certainly didn't.

When Ino first heard of the details surrounding her father's death from her mother, she was overwhelmed. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair at all. Her father got punished with a difficult mission that was ill-suited for him just because he was dutiful.

She didn't know who to blame. She was angry at so many people: The Hokage, for giving him the mission in the first place. Those who managed to weasel their way out of the mission, despite having well-suited skill sets for it. Her clan and its allies for not raising a fuss. And even her father, for accepting the mission without complaint.

There were so many people that she was mad at, she just wanted to give each of them a piece of her mind. For a while, that's all she wanted to do. She didn't let this show of course, she carefully made sure to act as if all was fine. But over time the hatred towards those she considered responsible for his death continued to grow, and she came to understand that merely berating them wouldn't satisfy her at all. No that would be far too kind. For some of them, Ino decided that they would experience a **lot** worse than a mere telling off.

The only reason Ino was able to act as if all was well and not treat those she deemed responsible with open disdain were her mother's speech on the importance of keeping what she told Ino a secret, and one of her most recent memories of her father, in which he gave her a piece of advice after she told him about an argument she had with Shikamaru, after his damn laziness cost her team first place in a group project.

* * *

 **8 Years ago  
**  
The last thing Inoichi wanted after a long day of work was to listen to Ino complain. Normally he found it adorable, but he had a busy day tomorrow and just wanted to sleep.

But rather than succumb to his desires, Inoichi reminded himself of his duty as a parent in being attentive to his child. Ino was sat Indian style in front of him, noticing her pouting face, he realised that she had noticed his lack of interest.

"Daaaaad, you don't understand! If Shikamaru just put a bit of effort into the physical part of the project then we'd have definitely gained enough points to have placed first! Ino whined.

Inoichi now felt like he was talking to a brick wall, he had spent the past ten minutes trying to tell Ino that shouting at Shikamaru wasn't the best way to get him to cooperate in the future, he knew as much from his time spent with Shikaku, who used to annoy him in similar fashions in the past. But she seemed more interested in trying to get him to see why Shikamaru was currently the scum of the earth.

Sighing, Inoichi tried a different approach that also allowed him to broach a topic that needed addressing, "Look, Ino, you're incredibly astute, whilst you don't put as much effort into your school work as you should, I know you're a smart girl. I've yet to see someone who you couldn't become friends with if you tried, and those aren't empty words - I genuinely mean them. Such social skills are incredible for someone so young, even for a Yamanaka. I'm incredibly proud of the person you're becoming.

"Ugh… I feel like you're setting up for a major `but' how annoying…". Ino interrupted, although she tried to sound somewhat annoyed, it was clear that her heart wasn't in it, her flushed cheeks being a testament to that.

Noticing this, Inoichi chuckled. "Yes, you're right. You know how I normally operate on matters that are important - I have a hands-off policy of leaving to your own devices and letting you reach your own thoughts and conclusions, only commenting if I think it's time-sensitive or if I believe that my intervention would act as a catalyst for your growth.

In this instance, it's the latter. I've known what I'm about to say for a while but haven't brought it up, as I figured that you'd notice it yourself eventually. But you're developing the bad habit of letting your emotions override your logic, it's making you do stupid things in the moment that you wouldn't do had you given yourself time to think. Consider this for a moment, how do you normally react when somebody makes you angry? You immediately shout at them, right? Do you really think that's the best approach?

Inoichi observed Ino, seeing how she took his statement. Given her stillness and silence, she was genuinely thinking about it. That was good.

Normally, this is the point where he would walk away and bring it up again in a few days after she had given it some thought, but given that he departed to Iwa tomorrow, he'd rather strike whilst she is in a cooperative mood.

Moreover, this is an issue that he wanted to nip in the bud sooner rather than later, before it bloomed into a core part of her personality and truly became a problem for her. He hated that he reminded himself of a Hyuga for thinking it, but volatile emotions were unbecoming and dangerous for a clan leader to leave unchecked.

After giving it some thought, Ino let out a loud sigh and allowed herself to flop back so that she was looking up at the ceiling. "I mean, I get it - It didn't really do me any favours. But what was I supposed to do? Just let him screw me over and then go along with my day like nothing happened?

"No, that's not what I'm getting at". Inoichi said seriously. "I'm not telling you to ignore problems and let people walk all over you. I'm just saying to think before you act. Rarely does lashing out without thought at someone that's annoyed you bring you any permanent pleasure, at best it's temporary fulfilment, and at worst, it will bring irreparable damage. Simply thinking before you act is a basic process that's second nature to any shinobi worth their salt, it's essential in our line of work."

Sensing that she was considering his words with the seriousness they deserved, he continued on:

"Think about what you actually accomplished by lashing out at him. You didn't change the result. You didn't convince him to try a little harder next time. And you probably didn't even make yourself feel any better either. Am I right?" Ino nodded meekly, she was clearly being receptive to his advice.

"How should I have handled it then?". She said.

Inoichi kept his voice serious "That's for you to think about and decide for yourself. I'm not trying to tell you how to act, I'm just making you aware that your current approach to problems is unproductive.

I will give you a bit of advice though", he said, smiling and allowing his voice to turn softer.

"After thinking you were wronged, you should have asked yourself numerous questions, including: Why did he wrong me? Do I actually care? If so, am I correct in feeling aggrieved? And most importantly, what is the best thing I could do to use this situation to my advantage? Asking yourself such questions before you act will allow you to respond appropriately.

Inoichi stood up and began to leave and let her mull over his words, before turning around to impart a final piece of advice: "Shinobi especially tend to have really good memories, understanding and reading people is our job, so keep in mind that anything that you say may be used against you - don't allow yourself to be blinded by your anger and say something that you will regret."

* * *

 **7 Years ago**

Ino started the academy this year, and she was of course aware that she was currently powerless; but at least the academy would give her the opportunity to network and grow strong.

For now, all she could do is slowly build up her power and influence, in order to one day obtain revenge. She didn't have any righteous goals, like changing the system to make sure others didn't suffer the same fate as her father, she simply wanted revenge - Ino was well aware of this and it made her feel truly empty. She was going to slowly amass power and influence, achieve vengeance on those who have fucked up her life, and then what? She didn't know. Which absolutely terrified her.

* * *

Upon starting the academy Ino was astounded at how dumb the majority of her peers were. She expected it from those from civilian families, but the fact that there were other clan kids that were so naive to the way the world works irritated her to no end. Ino had intended to befriend and get close to those that showed potential, so that she could manipulate them, but most of them didn't seem like they would be worth the effort, she doubted that some of them were capable of tying their own shoelaces.

Her annoyance at this was tempered by that fact that she was lucky enough to be placed within a year that was absolutely crawling with clan heirs, which was laughably fortuitous.

From her research and talking to those within her clan she knew that academy dropouts were commonplace, consisting of those that couldn't hack it and those who were simply deemed unfit to become shinobi. This meant that as students decreased the chances of her being placed in the same class as the other clan kids would increase, and she knew that in the final year you were sorted into classes based on your ability, so at the very worst she imagined that she'd be with them all then.

Even getting one of them indebted or attached to her would pay dividends. In fact, only targeting one or two of them would be best, being caught playing multiple angles in the future would be too problematic.

Eventually she would choose who to approach and make her move, but for now she would simply learn more about them whilst keeping a low profile and work on improving herself. Weakness is a sin after all. Without power, she would never gain the influence necessary to avenge her father.

She knew her father wouldn't have wanted this, for her to become the type of person that views others as tools to advance her own cause, but it's his own damn fault for dying.

A/N:

Thanks for reading.

Don't worry, I'm not going to slog through several years in the academy (Ages 5-12 in cannon) to get back to the present. We'll be back to the present (the last year in the academy) next chapter. As always, reviews/favs/follows are much appreciated.


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